Steve Pratt meets the real Harvey Pekar who has inspired one of the most original movies in years with his animated creations of ordinary US life.

HARVEY Pekar is an original. A hospital filing clerk and jazz lover who found a cult audience through his autobiographical comic book American Splendour and influenced animated creations like The Simpsons.

He's never left his native Cleveland, Ohio, but now finds himself in the unlikely role of Hollywood star thanks to an imaginative and original film based on his life.

Paul Giamatti stars in American Splendour as Pekar, with the real Harvey and an animated Harvey also featuring in the original movie that won a top prize at Sundance Film Festival and could well feature when the Oscar nominations are announced.

Pekar, 65 and retired now, took his mundane life and quirky acquaintances and turned them into a comic strip about ordinary people not superheroes. In person, he has much the same take-or-leave-it hangdog manner, laced with comic observations.

"I think it's a really good movie. Innovative. Humour and pathos. What can I tell you?," he asks unenthusiastically.

No, he continues, it wasn't strange seeing himself portrayed on screen as that's what he's been doing in his American Splendour comic books for years. "I'm used to it," he adds. "I don't want you to think I'm blas, but what can I tell you?".

Pekar can confirm that he had no say in who portrayed him on screen. "I don't know a lot about the film industry and there are a lot of good actors that I haven't heard of," he explains.

Giamatti isn't a big star but has appeared in a series of well-received roles in films including Private Parts, The Truman Show, Saving Private Ryan and Donnie Brasco. Pekar praises the actor's portrayal of him.

"He did an excellent job of playing me," he continues. "But he didn't spend much time with me, at least not on matters of getting my character right. The first time we met was a couple of days before we started shooting. We went to a large bookstore in Cleveland, one of the largest in the world probably.

"We are both book collectors. We looked around and he got some stuff he wanted. He said he got most of what he wanted about me from the comic books and video tapes."

Other people haven't objected at being portrayed, first in the comic strips, and now on screen. "People just want publicity. They don't care. They think it's a good deal just to be in a movie or on TV. Just spell my name right is all they care about," he says.

Pekar spent time hanging around the film set, mainly, it appears, because of the free food. "I liked the actors and crew, and had just retired so I was at a loose end," he says. "I used to go on the set all the time and talk to everybody. I didn't tell anyone what to do or how to play me. They complimented me on that."

He was discovered in the 1970s by Robert Crumb, who found international recognition with his underground comics. The pair met while searching for books and records at a junk sale in Cleveland.

Pekar's comic book work has influenced other animators. The Simpsons was created by someone who'd known him for many years.

"It's been said that my work influenced TV writing and some movie writing. I can see where that might be possible, and why no one might want to give me any credit for it either. There are a lot of cartoonists who've admitted they were influenced by me," he says.

"I would have gone into comics regardless because they are a great medium but under-utilised. All they do is write about these people in spandex suits that fly around.

"I realised you can talk about any subject. I saw writing in comics as a great opportunity to do something of worth. I'm big on innovation, that's partly why I like the movie a lot."

The attention that the film is receiving has taken him by surprise. He never thought it would win any prizes because he considers his work "so little known and so little cared about", adding: "I was amazed that the same stories told through the medium of film would entertain and interest so many people."

The movie being a hit has advantages. "I have a government pension, a wife and 15-year-old kid. I need to take care of them and to make extra income to do that. The attention I'm getting is helping me to some extent to get more writing jobs," he explains.

* American Splendour (15) opens in cinemas today.

Published: 02/01/2004